Soft Tissues Injuries In The Mouth

Your mouth houses soft tissues including gums and lips, which are composed of a large number of blood vessels. Keeping them healthy and free from injury is crucial to your overall oral health.

Because they are delicate, sensitive, and include a large number of blood vessels, they can easily bleed when an injury occurs. Although the bleeding can stop after a few minutes, it can also make the injury look much worse, causing panic.

The Soft Tissues In The Mouth And Their Common Injuries

The soft tissues in your mouth are:

Tongue

Cheeks

Gums

Lips

Injury to the soft tissues in your mouth includes:

Lacerations

Punctures

Cuts

Bruises

Your soft tissues are easily injured. Accidentally biting down on them while eating, falling, tripping, eating food that is too hot, or even chewing on hard objects can all cause injury to your soft tissues. Sports or even simple play is also a typical reason for their damage.

First Aid For Soft Tissues Injury

An injury to your soft tissue can affect your normal functions. You will have difficulty in eating as some food can cause pain and irritation to the damaged area. Speaking can also be difficult as it puts pressure on the swollen, damaged area and can be painful.

Apply pressure on the damaged area by pressing a clean damp piece of gauze against the affected area for 10 to 15 minutes. If you don’t have gauze handy you can use other alternatives such as a sanitary napkin, tampon, or a clean piece of material that can easily absorb blood and saliva.

Hold ice over the affected area for five to 10 minutes to relieve pain, slow the bleeding, and reduce swelling.

Visit you dentist immediately, particularly if the bleeding doesn’t stop.

Lightwood Dental Treatment For Soft Tissues Injuries

Your dentist will thoroughly examine the extent of the damage to determine the cause, if it is a loose tooth for instance. If the injury is in the soft tissues your dentist may need stitches to close the wound and stop the bleeding.

In most cases this is not necessary and your dentist only has to clean the area thoroughly and remove any debris or foreign matter that might cause infection.

Same Day Emergency Appointment At Lightwood Dental

Although soft tissue injuries are most often minor injuries, immediate attention is still necessary to ensure that they will not progress to more serious issues.